Episode 106: Reimagining What's Already There, Staying Intentionally Small and Looking at Your Numbers, An Interview with Elise Heslop of Plyroom
In this small business interview episode with Fiona, she talks to Elise Heslop, founder of Plyroom, about staying intentionally small as a business and how reimagining what’s already there helped her manage her business for 8 years (and counting). Listen now as they talk about the importance of looking at the numbers and why it’s important to focus on the profit, not the revenue.
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Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
Catching Up
Spending Time Overseas
On Starting Plyroom
When It Started
Covid's Impact
Her Upbringing
On Staying Small as A Business
On Making A New Collection
Reimagining What's Already There
On Getting Help For Plyroom
Tech Tool Recommendations
Doing Things Differently
Most Proud Moments
What's Next?
Connecting with Plyroom
Conclusion
Connect with Plyroom and Elise Heslop
Episode transcript:
That cycle of newness and what else is there to talk about is really exhausting for everyone and it's an unsustainable pattern of behaviour. I don't I don't know if we can keep going that way. And I feel strongly that rather than just adding more, maybe it's about reimagining what we already have and framing it differently.
Hello and welcome to Episode 106 of the My Daily Business Podcast. Two quick things before we jump into today's interview episode with such an amazing guest.
Firstly, I'm announcing the winners of the one hundred episode competition, so I'm just going to go through those. We will also be contacting you, if we can, through Instagram or email.
The other thing that I wanted to mention is that group coaching is available to enrol in right now. You can find all the details of my 12-month program over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/groupcoaching. So, yeah, get on it. If you are keen to work with me and you also want to meet a group of like-minded individuals, anyone from around the world can come into it as long as you've got Internet access, because we do meet online. But that is enough. Let's get into today's Small Business interview.
So a while ago, gosh, how long was it ago now, like seven years ago, my husband and I came back from the U.K. and we spent some time living with my parents. We then moved into a rental in Northcote. And at the time we were sort of looking around for just really cool furniture, just interesting things. When we had moved to London, we had to buy everything from scratch for our warehouse apartment, which was awesome. But we kind of kidded it out. And then we left and we did ship a whole lot of stuff back from London to Australia. You know, you accumulate a lot of stuff over four years, including our dog. We brought her back, but we didn't bring back all of our furniture.
And so we'd been looking around and my husband came across this brand and he sent it to me and he was like, this is awesome. And in the end, we moved into a rental that had the furniture that we were going to buy from them there. But I've never stopped looking at them and thinking what a simple but beautiful idea. And also often it's that whole idea with design that, you know, sometimes it's harder to make it simple and to make it something that is not going to date and is not right now on trend, but is beautiful and lasting. And that's exactly what this business is all about.
So who am I talking about? I'm talking about Plyroom. And if you haven't checked out the beautiful stuff, definitely go over to plyroom.com.au today or check out Plyroom on Instagram. But the woman behind the brand is Elise Heslop. Now, she is one of the most humble and friendly and just lovely people to chat to. But she's also incredibly smart and incredibly wise. And I think she potentially doesn't give herself credit for that. She started her career as a financial services marketer, and yet she then decided to take this giant really leap of faith, a giant kind of switch in her life, and took herself, her husband and her two children off to Italy. And she spent an entire year there. And that is actually where she came up with the idea for what would become Plyroom. And in this interview, she talks about how she made that kind of massive step. How do you go from this career to this other one, which is very different? And also you're in the middle of another country that you're not from and yet you're coming up with. Okay, maybe we could do it like this. Maybe we could do it like that. And you actually want to make a business out of it.
I just find it fascinating, firstly, that she'd have the bravery and courageous attitude to be able to completely take a family, including young children, to a different country for a year, but also that in that time that she was courageous enough to follow her dreams of doing something different.
At first glance, you might look at certain products and be like, oh, that's this. And yet they can transform into something else or they've been made in such a way that it's just so clever and different and interesting. And like I said before, they are pieces that are built to last and they are not on trend right now, fast furniture, they are the complete opposite. And also what you'll hear in today's interview is that Elise is quite different to a lot of business owners. She has intentionally stayed small in terms of the range that she produces, but also in terms of, you know, not having to grow. Go, go, go, go, get bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger.
And I love that she's honest and open about, you know, the doubts that she's had at times around that, because I think that's something. Well, I think I know because I talk to so many small business owners, it's something that a lot of people grapple with, particularly as potentially they see other people get bigger and bigger, bigger, and they sort of think, is that where I'm supposed to go? And one of the things that I love most about Elise's journey is that she stayed true to what she wanted to create the lifestyle that she wants to have and the business that she wants to have. And she's also true to her ideas that we don't all need more, more, more. What we need is better.
And that's exactly what Plyroom provides. So I loved chatting to Elise. I have followed her business journey. I think what she's doing is amazing. I think she's a very humble person who doesn't, like I said, give herself enough credit. But I hope that she listens to this podcast today and realises how much insight, wisdom and knowledge that she has and that she's so generously shared with my audience. So thank you so much for coming on to the podcast and for sharing your journey. And I just know that it'll inspire so many other people. So here it is, my interview with Elise Heslop, founder of Plyroom.
Welcome to the podcast. How are you feeling about life right now?
Oh, thank you for having me here. I'm I'm really excited to be doing this, first of all, and about life in general. I feel pretty positive and fortunate right now. Last year feels a bit like another life that we've just kind of tried to move on from and just come back from a weekend away, which is really nice. And in more generally, I think my kids are a little bit older. They're at a really good age. There's a bit more of that mental Freyja that comes with older kids, which I think is probably only temporary, but I'm enjoying it and it's giving me a bit of space to think that my life and what I want to be doing with it and, you know, making time to spend time with family and friends, get outside more, start learning new things again. Yeah. So all up feeling pretty good.
Oh how nice. Did you go and have fun.
Went to went to Adelaide with my husband. So that was our first trip away together for a really long time and it was great fun. It's so nice.
You dare to go interstate.
I know it was, it was nerve wracking and I don't think I'm going to be getting on a plane any time soon. But it was a really fun thing to do something. We had planned a full lockdown, and it's nice to make it happen. Oh, good.
Oh, that's so lovely. We're so lucky here in Australia that we can travel within our state usually or just like everyone's just tentatively kind of thinking, maybe I'll branch out to New South Wales or South Australia or Tasmania. But it's a big thing. If it does, it does. It totally does. And I'm hanging out for that mental space that you just talked about with my two year old. He's going to be two months. Yeah, I just I can I can see it with my sister. Her kids are now all at primary school and high school, and she's got that mental space a little bit. So. Well, just getting through it.
Yeah, thanks. It does. Yeah. It's funny when you're in it, it feels like it's going to happen. And then you look back and it's like, oh my gosh, I can't even remember when they were to me that was that feels like a lifetime ago.
So yes. Thank you. And so people would have heard me talk about Plyroom in the intro just now. And I think it was my husband discovered it first and just such beautiful things that you produce. But for people who are listening, who don't know what platinum is, can you let us know how you describe the business and also why you started it? Yeah, sure.
So put simply, I guess Plyroom is a furniture design studio and I lifestyle brand as well. I guess our focus is primarily on simple living and it's slowing down. So we design furniture that is intentionally understated and really, I guess just create trying to create a blank canvas for your home and for you to fill your home with things that you love in your life. It's our furniture. Is it loud? It's not trend based. It's yeah. It's meant to sit quietly, I guess in terms of why I started it, it kind of started organically whilst I was living overseas with my family for a year. So when our kids were I've got two boys, they're now 13 and 14. But when they were four and five, we packed up four suitcases and moved to northern Italy for a year. I quit my job and my husband managed as well as we were over there. We went from living in a house with a little backyard in inner city Melbourne to living in a pretty small two bedroom apartment. And I guess during that time, I just realised how much simpler. I mean, obviously, I wasn't I didn't have the burden of work at the at that time, but I just realised how much simpler it was to live with less things and live in spaces that are just a little bit smarter and furniture that can kind of do more. So I grew attached to this idea and I wanted to bring an element of that back to life in Australia. So I guess that's that is where it started, why I started it. I became attached to this idea of just having less stuff and living more simply and wanting to bring that an element of that back to life in Australia. The winter was really long over there, so I did spend quite a bit of time online when I didn't have other things to do. And I came across some really beautiful furniture online. And the architects and designers that made those furniture that the furniture pieces, I didn't I went that far away. So I emailed and took a train ride and had some conversations and found that their values were really similar to mine and. I wanted to bring what they created into Australia, but we have an Australian version or an Australian flavour and create products that embody that ethos of just getting back to basics a little bit more and trying not to complicate things too much.
Well, I've got so much good lists in that. Firstly, I'm so jealous that you spent time overseas. And it was it was pretty good.
I mean, we did we planned it maybe three years prior and kind of just worked our butts off to save and get it, get it, get all of our ducks in a row. But it was definitely worth it. And anyone that's thinking of doing it, I mean, obviously not right now, but that's thinking of doing something like that in the future. I would just say absolutely do it. It was the best thing we ever did.
And did he cook pasta or eat lots of pasta and lots of pasta, lots of pizza, lots of vegetables. We are nowhere near as much meat as we did. We don't need much made anymore. But yeah, diet changed quite a bit. It just yeah, it was wonderful.
And I love just that scene of you on a train ride. I've travelled throughout Italy on trains and it all just so beautiful. So maybe it wasn't, but it sounds so picturesque travelling out to sea furniture makers in Italy.
Yeah, it was exciting, definitely. And I wasn't it wasn't stealing beauty moment, that's for sure. But but it was it was pretty exciting and really amazing to know that they were interested in working with one person that hadn't done something like this before. It was a leap of faith in him to do so.
Yeah, it was great. And so when you started it, when you you'd met with these people and that kind of you come to the agreement and they had the same values, did you know that this is going to be I like “proper business” that you would that would kind of sustain you and your family? Or did you start off thinking it's just going to be a small thing? Maybe I'm just going to do like one piece and sell it at market. So or did you always know this is going to be a business?
I think I wanted to create a business. I mentioned the idea to my husband, and he's he's got a small business as well. And he's I remember he said to me, you know, out of all of the ideas that you've had, this is probably the one that's going to work. I think it's probably your best idea. And I thought, well, that's good enough for me. I'll get in there and give it a go. So I tried to do all the right things. At the start. I wrote a business plan and write a marketing plan and did market research and tried to understand what I guess what the pitfalls was in dealing with distribution internationally. And yeah, so I did set a plan that I wanted to have a business that would provide a small salary for me after a few years of running it at, I guess, a loss after I was recouping costs and things like that. So yeah, it was definitely I mean, I wasn't one hundred percent sure it was going to work, but I, I'd planned for it to work as much as I could.
Oh, nice. And I love that you have a supportive partner who was like, yes, go for it.
It was awesome. It was that or going back to corporate and I was going to do everything in my power and not to go back to that really busy life because it took a toll.
Yep, definitely. I have I have been there with you. When did you start the business? What year?
2013. OK, eight years ago now.
Wow. OK, and so since you've had the business had been running it pre covid and then it hit. And even right now I have clients where things literally stuff on boats. How has life with covid impacted the way that you run your business.
Good question. So I think it's made me think about planning for all sorts of scenarios that I never really considered in the past. At the moment, we've got, I think, anyone who's importing or using materials for their businesses. Material costs are going up. Shipping is very expensive and unreliable, very hard to get things on boats, like you said. I think that has all made me think a lot more about what the focus should be with this business in terms of the product mix. Maybe five years ago I started designing and having products made locally to, I guess, build up our stable of products. And I have been putting a lot more focus on the local design and manufacture of. Range, I mean, I'm still we're still obviously bringing in products from Italy, and I will I love working with our suppliers and manufacturers over there and that's not going to change. But there's definitely more of a view to local production and simplifying, I guess, our supply chain,
which is great because it kind of got the best of both worlds. Then you've got your supporting industry and bringing things in. So can I ask being in Italy and deciding to do this and kind of going forward and even with your partner support, was that something that you had that confidence? Was that something because of your upbringing, like your parents, small business owners, or were they somehow in the furniture or design scene so that you thought, yes, I can have an idea and I can go and get stuff and sell it in Australia? How did your kind of upbringing influence what you're doing?
Well, first of all, I think it's important to note my mother was born in Italy, so I have Italian heritage, so that definitely tells part of the story. I was born in Perth and moved with my parents and brother to Brisbane and then later to Melbourne. So my upbringing, I guess, was flexible and I learnt to adapt to new environments quite well. But my parents just worked hard. My dad was in a corporate job. My mum was a teacher, and then she became a real estate agent. And then later in life, when my kids were babies, she says she opened her own boutique in Perth. So I guess Mum definitely has a penchant for design and she's got amazing taste. So that would have had an influence. My brother Matt, who he has a business as well called the Little Vegie Patch. He had an entrepreneurial bug from early on. And I think that probably with him and Mum doing what she did and then my dad later on when he retired, he kind of started doing his own thing. I definitely would have washed off on me and made me realise that you can try things and they don't have to be a lifelong career. You can try things. If they don't work, it's OK. You can move to something else. Yeah, it's just important to have support behind you. And I guess to have a bit of a back up plan as well.
Oh, I love that. And your family sounds awesome. And I love especially your mum. I mean, obviously I'm not alluding to age, but any woman in the generation before us doing things on her own or swapping careers like that would be. Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah. She's she's a powerhouse for sure. And my dad is her number one fan, so is very, very supportive. And he would have played a big role in making her say what she had to offer and encourage her to to chase her dreams as well, which is really great.
Oh, what a lovely upbringing to have. Gosh, that's really amazing to have that just all around you and be kind of taking it even if you're not even aware of it.
Yeah, I think I mean, obviously, I was very lucky. And you're right. I guess you don't really realise it or think about it until you're asked a question like that and it makes you take pause and reflect on these people have actually really helped shape where I am now.
Yeah. And then your kids will look at your story and be like, oh my gosh, they travelled to Italy and they did this and mum started this and not think. One of the things I love is in your marketing, you talk a bit about staying kind of intentionally small. And I know that I was lucky enough to attend a sold out event, which was part of the Melbourne Design Week this year. Yeah, I'd love to know. Firstly, like, why is this the case that you wish to stay small? And also what do you think makes people feel like success is only of a big, big, big, because I love what you're doing, but I'm imagining that it's hard at the same time for people to kind of start out doing something like you're doing, thinking, oh, I could make a living but still stay small. I don't have to go big, big, big. So sorry. That was kind of packed question.
No, no, that's OK. It's lots, there's lots in it. So I think being intentionally small came from and tell me if I'm not answering part of the question as well. So when I did start my business, I spoke to a lot of people who would say to me that asking, you know, how many stockists do you have? What's new in your collection? They were the I guess, the questions that would help people categorise if my business was worth their time or if they if they thought that it was going to be a success or not. And for the first few years, I definitely was influenced a lot by what other people were doing and what the normal indicators of success were. I did speak to business coaches when I was feeling conflicted and they did seem to be a bit of a push to follow this path of, you know, you need to have a certain number of stockists and we need to be talking about what's new. And I remember feeling like that wasn't it didn't sit right with me anyway. I think I also remember and it might have been something at the time, you know, like 2012-2013. I remember hearing and reading a lot that growth plus hussle equals success. And that was how you got to where you needed to be. And I really don't like the word hustle. I actually it's something I just hate it. I got rid of it. I just, you know, hard work is fine and. That's part of it, but that just sounds it just sounds really mean, and I don't know why, but I just don't like it.
No, I just always feel like it seems it's got like a negative, like, hustle, hustle. Like it's always been like a hustler is never it's never a good thing. It's like, oh, he's a bit of a hustler and it's not honest. It's something isn't there. And I feel like it's like alignment's or like look, you have to do the work, but you don't do necessarily.
Exactly. No, no. I know you put it way better than I could have. So at the start, even now, you plan for or not now actually, but planning for growing revenue at a certain rate each year or growing stock. So think about adding adding new products to the range. I would be looking at new markets and new ways to get on that path. And I did come to a point after a while where I realised that that wasn't working for me and I was doing what I thought was the right thing. But it just there was a real disconnect between even the business and what I was trying to do with this business and emphasising that simplicity and slowing down is actually part of what makes life more enjoyable. And then behind the scenes, just working weekends and doing so much more than I thought I needed to, or doing the things that didn't seem aligned to the values of the business. So, yeah, I think sorry, that's part of the answer to the question. But there was definitely that time at the start where I felt like that was what I needed to do. And I remember the father of a friend saying to me, what did he say? He said, revenue is vanity, profit is sanity. And I just remember thinking, you're so right. Like, why am I even looking at that top line number? I shouldn't that shouldn't be the focus. And growth doesn't necessarily mean that the business is sustainable and profitable. And it's enabling me to do the things that I want to do. So the first few years, there was a lot of experimentation and review and it only, I guess maybe the last two or three years, it's only really started to come into focus for me that my priorities need to align with my personal values and the values of my business. And I think that that has really helped crystallise how I want to move forward. And being small is part of that, recognising that, you know, the furniture that I design or that we import, it's not going to be for everybody. And that's OK. They are going to be people that really understand and appreciate where the design of this furniture all the way that it's made or the materials that we use where all that comes from. And they are the ones that I think are important on this business journey. It's not about selling to everybody. It's that's never going to work. It's not going to work for me either. And I didn't stop my business to rival the power brokers in the Financial Review. I wanted to create a business that gave me more flexibility, helped me provide for my family, of course, but also feeds me creatively and does something more than just selling more stuff. So I think that's where the small aspect comes into it. And really just being true to keeping it simple.
Oh, I love that. I could not agree more. And actually I'm working with somebody - Emmery Sergeant, who heads up for the Design Alliance and the state numbers, the numbers of stuff that is getting thrown out, like that's just sort of fast food. And yeah, she's just she's just a powerhouse of information about that. But it's really shocking because I think what you're doing is amazing because there is so much consumer culture. Just buy it and we'll just replace it. It doesn't really matter. And we forget that this old is going into landfill like a lot of it.
That's right. I think if we actually had to council has changed the way that we do our recycling. And so our recycling being only gets collected every fortnight. And it's just when you've got to keep all that rubbish even a bit longer, even just keeping it with you, it makes you realise how much waste you're producing. And it really does make you think about what you're doing a lot more. So, yeah, I agree with you.
Yes. It's such an interesting topic and so on that when you were saying at the start we had stockists and you thought they'd be like, oh, where's your new collection with the new fun stuff? And we've seen this pool, what kind of advice would you give to someone listening who's maybe in the earlier stages than you? And they're thinking the same thing like, oh, but I need to design whether it's fashion or home wear or something else. I need to have a new collection out every six months or I need to have a new thing every quarter. How have you kind of worked around that all around that made, I guess, or once that a lot of us will have? We need to do something new, something exciting.
Look, it is definitely a challenge. And having a new range every season gives you something to talk about with stockists. But I also think that cycle of newness and what else is there to talk about is really exhausting for everyone. And it's an unsustainable pattern of behaviour. I don't I don't know if we can keep going that way. And I feel strongly that rather than just adding more, maybe it's about reimagining what we already have and framing it differently. And I think with my business, I realised that I wasn't going to be designing a new range every six months. That's just not it wasn't sustainable for me. It wasn't what my business was about. And I really believed in the products that I sold. But of course, it was important to contextualise them differently. So adding a small, small range on the side of homewards, that wasn't something that we kept all the time just to, I guess, change up the way that we contextualise our products. And I'm certainly not immune to the appeal of a new I do love. I love saying what's new and what other people are doing because it's exciting and it's stimulating and it's interesting. But I think there are different ways to do that. And I think it makes you feel good when you're not you're not throwing stuff out all the time and you're actually investing in what you have and really thinking about whether the product works, evolving it, adapting it based on customer feedback that that can feel just as good. And it can also give you something else to talk about as well. It doesn't have to just be a new thing.
Yeah, I love that. And I know on your Instagram you do talks or you do like Instagram to video reels or, you know, about packaging or what you're doing behind the business to be more sustainable, what you're doing this or how many books can be comfortably on the shelf with no luck. So there's so much so much content. I think people get stuck in the trap of nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh. What are we saying about this campaign or this campaign rather than like even when I work with clients and we talk about campaigns, especially product based businesses, instantly, it's always about, oh, we got this new collection is coming up. It's like, what about other campaigns? What about figurehead marketing or sustainability or women we love or, you know, these other things you can talk about that your audience is going to connect with rather than always. Just the next. The next.
And it's true. It's kind of like when you if we can all remember back when we used to travel and you would go, you would go. And those crazy two is where you would visit like ten cities in ten days and you would just get a tiny little bit of that city and imagine like staying in just one city and just going really date and understanding the city and learning more about the culture. It's a little bit of that contrast where if you just putting stuff out all the time, people really never get to know what's behind the product and understand it the way that you might as well.
I love that. I love your idea of reimagining what's already there. And so in your business, you're nearing a decade, which is amazing. Congratulations to you. What have you had to learn during your time in business to sort of level or to just thrive? And I guess what would be three things that have been maybe the hardest to learn?
So I think I've had to learn to. Stop being a people pleaser. These are more personal things that I've had to learn. So I just need to I needed to learn to say no and to really assess things in line with my values rather than just saying yes to everything. And there was definitely a time when I would just say yes to everything and that that was good because I learnt a lot from that. But that was that was one key lesson in line with that. It's trusting my intuition and listening to my inner voices and maybe turning the volume down a bit on the negative ones. If things hadn't haven't felt right in the past, it was pretty clear that there was a there was a reason why. And I may not have been able to put my finger on it at the time, but looking back in hindsight, it always seemed to have been the right decision to to trust that inner voice. And I think becoming more comfortable looking at the numbers. I think early on, as I said, I was I was focussing on revenue and I wasn't really looking at a lot of other numbers in the business. And I think that was an important lesson to me when I didn't feel comfortable looking at the numbers or understanding them, working with people or finding people that were going to help me get more comfortable with it. That was that was really important. I think the hardest one to learn was trusting my intuition and also being comfortable with iteration and evolution. So I did want to make everything perfect. But learning that you don't have to it doesn't have to be perfect from the very beginning. If it needs changing, you can change it. No one's watching your business as much as you think they are. And it's OK to evolve and say,
Oh, you can't see me, but I'm literally nodding my head. Tough lessons to learn, but important especially I think that trusting your intuition is such an important thing. And often I work with data a lot. But I'll say to people, there's two ways. One, look at the data to trust you feel like they both need to work like this. If you trust your feelings and you've got the data to back that up, that's even better than I think. Too often I know that I've had two problem clients years, and both times I wish I had trust my intuition, because both times I was like, this doesn't feel right. But I just was like, no, no, it's good money. It's whatever, you know, from the start, don't you really feel it? And even I mean, as kids, when your kids are little and they say they've got a sore tummy or they feel funny and they tell me, I sometimes reflect on that and think that was the intuition telling them that something wasn't right. And we've we've learnt that as adults, I think. And it's hard to say to someone justifying something based on your gut feeling. But at times, I mean. Well, it is. And it's it's often right.
Oh, inside nice. And for people outside of Australia, you might be able to access this, unfortunately. But do you ever watch any sort of Speace? Yes, me too. And they just had intuition as the topic recently to Diecast and Lesson absorbed it telepathically.
Oh, I'm so interested in all of that stuff. And so you mentioned before that you reached out to Ungifted and it was an accountant or bookkeeper or someone to help you with the financial numbers. You said before, have you had any other kind of people that you've had to or that you've reached out to like coaches or mentors or even books or like a mantra or quotes or anything that's been really pivotal, pivotal people to live with? That's the really important and helped you in your business?
Absolutely. I love quotes. My favourite quote is Comparison is the Thief of Joy, because I do find that I can sometimes get into that comparison death spiral where I'm on Instagram as well. When you feeling a little bit low? Well, things haven't gone as well as you think or I don't know, you tend I don't know what it is about human behaviour, but. Well, I certainly just go into that comparison spiral of looking at what everyone else is doing and thinking, oh, there's so much better and more creative and more clever and this, that and the other one. And so that's the quote that I have to kind of keep reminding myself of, because it really does take away the joy of what you have achieved and what you are doing. And so, yeah, to that, putting the blinkers on sometimes and just putting your head down and going swimming in your life so that that quote sticks with me in terms of mentors and coaches. Fiona Johnson from Page. She is. Business coach slash CFO for hire, she was the person that I worked with for a few years that really helped me stay on track with my numbers and got into the nitty gritty where I didn't really feel comfortable and helped me feel good about my business and how it was progressing so that she she was amazing. My brother is also he's also been a bit of a I mean, he doesn't hate this because he'll get a big head, but he's very, very supportive. And we talk a lot about work and business stuff. And he's been a really great sounding board. And in terms of a book, the main book that really helped transform my business was Profit First by Mike. I think it's my collection look like we can always say it's Galecki and it's like, oh, that would be amazing to join. Yes.
Well, I was thinking of your book as well, actually. So his his book. I don't know if you I think you've read it as well. If you haven't I recommend it to everyone. We do it in business book club. They Yeah. So really just so good with saving cash flow and getting you on track and making sure you know how much money you've got to spend on certain things. That was, that was definitely a game changer for me.
Oh yes. And we'll link to these in the shownotes as well. But yeah, it's this has been such a huge game changer for so many of my clients. I think people have like a love hate. Some people get it and they're like, yes. And some people like, oh, too much work. Yeah, I'm going to go with Barefoot Investor or something else. Yeah, totally. And then what about technology tools? Are there any that you can't live without any kind of platforms or things that you use for the business that just are absolutely essential for you?
Yes, there's quite a few. So zero with the first one that definitely just made bookkeeping and accounting so much easier. And as the business got a little bit more complicated with pre-orders and US manufacturing products and having components, I subscribe to a system or a platform called inventory systems, and that was really helpful just to make sure that we didn't either. So so that we have all of our quotes in one system, our inventory, when it's arriving, all of that stuff is is locked in, which is really great. What else? Slack is a system that I use with studio manager Katrina and people that I work with remotely. So that's just really great when you're working with virtual teams or freelancers who are always in the office. And it's really like a messaging tool, I guess, and it's just a little bit less formal than email. You can let people in. But I know it just seems to work a little better than email. Emails just seem to be more of a formal device for us now. Acuity or squatty. I don't know how you pronounce that, but just for booking appointments. So last year we moved to online and online booking system for appointments. Our studio, our room is still just open by appointment. And that way people can rather than just emailing us and us going back and forth to book appointments, people can just choose a time that suits them that we've got available. And it's all it's all done and automated, which has been amazing. And the last one is Receipt Bank, which is now called text, I think. And that is just super handy. When you've got lots of receipts and invoices coming in, you can photograph your site or you can just email it to your text account and it basically just categorises it and feeds it into zero so you don't have to go and do it all by yourself.
That's quite amazing. And you don't have shoeboxes full of millions. Exactly. That's so true. Oh, my gosh, it's wonderful.
And so you have been in the business for eight years, which is amazing. Is there anything that you would have done differently if you were starting out now?
Well, I think everything that I did that I realised was maybe not the right way to go has taught me a valuable lesson. So there's nothing that really stands out as something that I should not have done. I think the lesson, though, is I'm the closest person to my own business. No one else is really watching it or interrogating it as much as I am. So I shouldn't be afraid to to try things and just put things out there. And I think that's part of, you know, the evolution of a business as well, just trying stuff and seeing how it goes.
Yes, indeed. And all that, I guess, on the flip side of things, what are you most proud of from your business with Plyroom?
Well, I'm proud that it's still here. I'm proud that I've been able to to create something that people see value in. And it does give me what I need. And it fulfils a purpose of why I started the business in the first place. And I'm also really proud that I'm able to give back in business in a small way. So this financial year was the first year that I was able to become a member of one percent for the planet. And that means that one percent of our revenue goes towards the end, not for profit and environmental initiative that that we're happy to contribute to. And that means a lot for me that we are producing things and we're taking away from the planet from a resource perspective. But we're also trying to give back and and help change the dialogue and make it make it more of a circular conversation.
Oh, well done on that. Thank you. Awesome. And so I guess if people are listening to this and they're like, oh my goodness, she sounds amazing, which, of course they will. What is the best place or where is the best place for them to connect with you? And I guess also what's next for you? What's coming up?
So anyone that wants to to say hi and connect, we have a showroom in North Northcote in Melbourne. We're also on Instagram at Clarin. And those are the two best ways to get in touch with us. And in terms of what's next, I think really it's just about enjoying being physically at work and rebuilding some routines that were lost from last year, being around the studio and the space that we share with our friends at work. That's it's been really nice to to be back around people again. And then in terms of what's next, I think I'm just really looking forward to learning some new skills and maybe going back to study and doing some other things outside of work and just keeping keeping quiet and going and making it better and refining it as things go on. Oh, and couldn't really ask for much more than that. Really. Pretty lucky really.
Yeah. And so fun to be with Kate and from actually from that team over there. Do you guys think he'll do any more. I'm putting you on the spot. Do you think you'll do any more of it. It was such a great event. So many people told you that afterwards. It was like one of the best events of being so warm and intimate and and genuine and lovely, but so nice to hear. I think I had to get over the whole vulnerability, the vulnerability hangover. I think it was that you mentioned afterwards. Look, who knows? Maybe we really I mean, it's always a lot of work putting on events, but it's always so rewarding and fulfilling and just being in a room with so many people that we're happy to be there. It was a wonderful feeling. So, you know, never say never.
We might well, we'll make it so that we link to your Instagram and the website in the show notes and any future events. But you keep taking the time to chat to us and to all your wisdom and everything that you've shared experience.
It was so nice to talk to you, too. Thanks again. Bye bye.
Oh, that is so lovely, chatting to Elise every time I talk to her, she's just been so grounded and genuine and lovely and I just think what an amazing small business owner to learn from and so many tips and insights she gave today. Of course, we will list out all of the links that she mentioned, the platforms, the people over on the show notes. And you can find them at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/106.
I would love to know what you took away from that conversation with Elise. What really stood out to you? What resonated? What made you maybe think differently about things? For me, two things really stood out.
One was her idea of you can reimagine what's already there. I see that so often with small business owners, they are constantly looking for new new, new. What can I talk about that I haven't talked about before? What can I mention that no one's seen? How can I photograph this in a different way? And I think sometimes we forget, firstly, that if you're using platforms like Instagram, you know, even your most engaged followers are not seeing every single thing that you've done.
You can repurpose content, but also that there's often so much gold that we think is boring or no one would be interested in that, or it's just so common for us that we can't see the magic in it. We can't say that it would be, you know, magnetic for somebody in terms of our marketing.
And I think often when I work with small business owners on with coaching or group coaching is to really uncover the kind of content themes or the things that are of value to your audience. And then look at what you've already got. What have you already got that you could repurpose? I love the idea of reimagine what's already there, as opposed to always thinking it has to be new. I talk about the buyer cycle quite a bit and in the buyer cycle there are five stages awareness, research, evaluation, purchase and post purchase. And I love when Elise was talking about reimagine what's already there. If you can take that concept and then look at, say, the evaluation, see where somebody is evaluating whether you're the right fit for them, whether your product or service is the right thing for them. What can you do in the evaluation space that is going to lead them to purchase? What could you reimagine from what you've already got that is going to lead them? It could be talking about your business journey. It could be talking about how you've worked with X, Y, Z client and you were able to get these type of results. It could be talking about the experience that you've had, talking about your skill set have up level. All these different things will help somebody evaluate whether you're right for them and hopefully be guided into the purchase area of the bio cycle. So that's one thing. The first thing that really stood out, which is reimagine what's already there.
The second thing I loved was that she talked about having to get really serious and look at her numbers. And she mentioned a few times the idea that it is about profit, not about revenue. And when I work with clients, we always talk about money at the start. We always talk about money, values, beliefs, those kind of things. Because if you can get those three right, you've got a fantastic business opportunity ahead of you. So I love that she talked about looking at profit, not just revenue. I can't tell you how many people I've worked with where the revenue looks amazing. It's much like Instagram followers. They look amazing. But then what's the engagement? And in revenue terms, what's the profit?
So those two things really stood out to me. I would love to know what stood out to you. So don't be a stranger. You can come on to Instagram. I'm at @mydailybusinesscoach or you can go and find Elise and she's at @plyroom. If you're interested in learning more about Plyroom you can find out more at plyroom.com.au. But yeah.
Come on over to Elise or myself or both of us and let us know what you took most from this episode. Again all the show notes links to everything Elise mentioned will be available at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast106. So that is it for today's episode.
If you haven't subscribed, make sure you hit subscribe so you get notified of our episodes as soon as they launch. Thanks so much for listening. See you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you want to get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram at @mydailybusinesscoach.
